A nice cream, but waaaaaay overpriced! (Elemis Intensive Hand Repair)

Member Name: k4ssie

Product:	Elemis Intensive Hand Repair
Date:	25/05/09 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice smell, well absorbed, moisturises OK

Disadvantages: Insanely expensive

Oh dear, i definitely have to go against the majority opinion on this one!

I received the small tube (20ml) size of this as part of an Elemis gift set for Christmas last year. As my usual hand cream (Vaseline Intensive Care) had just run out, I put it by my bed and started using it every night.


~ The product ~
The cream contains Myrrh extract which is supposed to strengthen nails, and Malachite (whatever that is, to be honest i'm not even sure!!) is supposed to combat ageing by stimulating collagen and elastin in the skin. As with all the Elemis products, the tube looks smart and high end, although the screw cap was a bit of a nuisance to get back on when i'd just applied the cream!
The cream itself was white, thickish consistency and did smell very pleasant, i assume from the aromatherapy ingredients. It smoothed over my skin nicely and absorbed fairly quickly, although i found that i needed quite a lot of it for a single application.

~ The results ~
Were, basically, just OK. The cream was nice to use and smelt expensive, and yes my hands were reasonably soft in the morning - very similar though really to my old Vaseline hand cream. I didn't see any significant change in the condition of my nails, the lines on my hands, or some slight pigmentation i have from sun damage - though that could be because the tube lasted such a short time (i'd say about 2 weeks max) that maybe i wasn't getting the full effects yet.

~ But....~
I quite liked the cream, and had a look at various online sources to get some more when it ran out. I was absolutely amazed to discover that the "full" size - still only 75ml, which isn't all that much - would have cost me around £40 RRP, and not that much less on ebay. Frankly, they have to be kidding - for that money, i'd be expecting the hands of a 15-year-old overnight. So, that's why i'm rating this one so low - nothing wrong with it if it was a tenner or less, but in my opinion the actual price is crazy.

Summary: If you can't afford this, you're really not missing much!